The “Jim Crow” South

Who was “Jim Crow”? The term “Jim Crow” originated in a song performed by Daddy Rice, a white minstrel show entertainer  in the 1830s.   Rice covered his face with charcoal to resemble a black man, then sang and danced in a silly caricature of a black person.   The "Jim Crow" figure was a fixture of the minstrel shows that toured the South; a white man made up as a black man sang and mimicked stereotypical behavior in the name of comedy. 

What are “Jim Crow” laws? The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965 Its original purpose was to bar blacks from voting in the South, but it progressed into many other areas Simply put, they established a legal color barrier preventing blacks from participating in various activities with whites The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Jim Crow Laws in the landmark 1986 case Plessy v Ferguson establishing “separate but equal” laws as legal.

Facilities that were Separate Bus station waiting rooms and ticket windows Railroad cars or coaches Restaurants and lunch counters Schools and public parks Restrooms and water fountains Sections of movie theaters There were even separate cemeteries

Images of “Jim Crow” Bus Stations

Images of “Jim Crow” Drinking Fountains

Images of “Jim Crow” Drinking Fountains

Images of “Jim Crow” Schools

Images of “Jim Crow” Movie Theaters

Images of “Jim Crow” Movie Theaters

Images of “Jim Crow” Sodapop Machines

Images of “Jim Crow” Public Transportation

Images of “Jim Crow” Other races/ nationalities were also segregated or discriminated against

How did “Jim Crow” End? The Civil Rights Movement in the mid-1920s sought out to end the “Jim Crow” era African-Americans in the South began to use legal lawsuits, mass sit-ins, boycotts, and other protests to end segregation. In 1963, over 200,000 African-Americans marched into Washington D.C., which started the movement to end the way of life under “Jim Crow.” It was officially abolished in the late 1960s with the passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, followed by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.